If you want a balanced yet powerful build for your Paladin character, the Oath of Devotion build in Baldur’s Gate 3 is the answer. These Paladins offer a versatile role in their party, which ranges from providing support to dealing damage. Although Barbarians and Fighters are the primary tanks in BG3, the Oath of Devotion Paladins can fill the role easily.
To make this build, you will have to make some specific choices in character creation. These will allow you to hone in on your build and make a character that can weather anything the game throws at you. Oath of Devotion is also one of the best builds for Minthara, as she is also a Paladin.
Starting Abilities and Skills for Paladin Oath of Devotion in BG3
The Primary ability for the Oath of Devotion subclass is Charisma, followed closely by Strength and Constitution.
Race: The best race choice for the Paladin Oath of Devotion in Baldur’s Gate 3 is Zariel Tiefling. The reason being that it provides access to a ton of unique abilities to our character. These include Searing Smite, Branding Smite, and Thaumaturgy. All of these are obtained gradually at progressive levels.
Zariel Tiefling’s Searing Smite is better at dealing Fire damage to targets than the regular Searing Smite spell of Paladins. Moreover, it does not even need you to expend a spell slot.
Another good racial choice can be Dragonborn. You can consider them for their Draconic Ancestry and Breath Weapon features. Draconic Ancestry Breath weapon makes you exhale destructive energy and potentially damage surrounding creatures.
Ability Point Distribution: Initially, we recommend allocating the following scores to different abilities to get maximum benefits out of the build.
Charisma and Strength= 16
Constitution= 14
Keep the rest of the attributes as default.
Skill Proficiency: Athletics and Insight are the best skills to get proficient in. Both complement the Paladin’s class abilities. Athletics has Strength as its main attribute, and Insight has Wisdom as its main attribute. All this results in an increased overall efficiency of the build.
Best Background
Your character’s background from any class determines what initial proficiencies it will have in the future. It is important to choose a Background that complements the abilities of your build subclass. In our case, choosing any background with Charisma and Strength abilities will be the perfect decision.
The best background choice for the Paladin Oath of Devotion build can be a Soldier. A soldier is a battle-hardened veteran with the endurance and expertise needed in combat. Moreover, this one has Athletics and Intimidation proficiencies that are exactly in tune with the innate proficiencies of Paladin.
Outlander is also a considerable background, owing to its Athletics and Survival proficiencies.
Best Feats for Paladin Oath of Devotion Build in Baldur’s Gate 3
You can choose a feat from an extensive list, every four levels of a class in BG3. So, this selection can be done at 4, 8, and 12 of the character levels. The first Feat most people take is the Ability Improvement, which rivals all the other counterparts due to its utility.
You will always have a choice between increasing up to 2 points in your favorite abilities and choosing a feat instead.
Level 4: Ability Improvement – It will be a good decision to go for increased Charisma or Strength, as these are Devotion Paladin’s main stats.
Level 8: Alert – This feat gives a +5 bonus to your Initiative. This means that you are always going to go first in combat.
Level 12: Defensive Duelist– When attacking while wielding a finesse weapon, you can use a reaction to add your proficiency bonus to your Armor Class, possibly causing the attack to miss. The prerequisite is that you should be proficient in the finesse weapon in your hands. You should also be aware of the best finesse weapons in Baldur’s Gate 3 if you want to equip them.
Best Spells for Paladin Oath of Devotion Build in BG3
Indeed, Paladins are not as adept in spellcasting and magical prowess as Sorcerers or Bards. However, they get a handful of spells at progressive levels that gain them an upper hand in combat and dialogue options.
Level 1 Spells are unlocked when your character reaches level 2 in progression, before which only cantrips are available. Below, we have put the best spells you can consider at different Devotion Paladin levels.
Level 2: Divine Favour– This level 1 spell allows you to perform a prayer, empowering you with divine radiance. This way, your weapons will start dealing 1d4 additional radiant damage to targets.
Compelled Duel– With the force of a divine command, enemies are forced to attack only your character and stop bothering your party members.
Level 5: Protection from Poison– A level 2 spell from Conjuration School. This allows you to neutralize the effect of all kinds of poison by touching a creature.
Level 9: Magic Weapon– An additional concentration spell that will give us a +1 to Attack rolls and Damage Rolls.
Level 12: Blinding Smite– This level 3 Evocation spell allows you to summon a heavenly blaze, causing the target to go blind for a moment. In this duration, the enemy will have a Disadvantage in his Attack Rolls while you will gain an Advantage in your Attack rolls.
Best Armor and Weapons
Below are the weapons, armor, and other gear options we have chosen for our Oath of Devotion build.
Weapon: The weapon you wield should be one-handed due to opting for Dueling fighting style. The Pelorsun Blade is a good option for this.
Armor: Go for a shield in armor choices to benefit from your fighting style, such as Abdel’s Trusted Shield.
Hands: Gloves of the Growling Underdog: Gives you an Advantage on melee attack rolls when two or more enemies surround you.
Helm: Grymskull Helm: This one is a decent head-gear grating protection from Fire damage. It also protects you from getting critically hit by enemies.
Amulet: Amulet of Restoration: Gives the user two spells, Healing Word and Mass Healing Word.
Ring: Emerald Ring.
Paladin Oath of Devotion Build Level Progression in Baldur’s Gate 3
Below is an overview of the notable changes at each subsequent level during character progression.
Level 1: This level is all about character creation and choosing the appropriate race, background, and skill proficiencies for your Oath of Devotion build in Baldur’s Gate 3. Select the race, background, attributes, etc., as recommended.
Level 2: You can pick a fighting style, preferably Dueling at this level. Choose spells that increase damage chances and defenses, such as Bless and Shield of Faith.
Level 3: You get subclass-specific features such as Sanctuary and Sacred Weapon. Additionally, you will receive a class feature, Divine Health.
Level 4: You can choose a feat or Ability Improvement at this level. We recommend going for the latter to benefit from enhanced Strength or Charisma.
Level 5: This is where your level 2 spell slots are made available, and you can start casting stronger spells, such as Protection from Poison. You also get an Extra Attack, which allows you to make an additional attack in the same turn without any cost.
Level 6: Your character will receive Aura of Protection at this level. With this, you and your party allies are given a Saving Throws bonus. This will likely save all of you from potential damage up to a great extent.
Level 7: You get an additional prepared spell at this level. There is also a new Action introduced, named Aura of Devotion, that protects you and your party members from being Charmed by anyone.
Level 8: This level comes with an opportunity to choose a new feat. We recommend taking Alert or any feat of your liking.
Level 9: This level introduces a few level 3 spells in the Paladin Spellbook. You can replace previously used lower spells with potent ones, such as Beacon of Hope and Revivify. The former helps your allies get maximum hit points after being healed, while the latter brings one companion back to life with one hit point.
Level 10: As we step into level 10, we get an additional action, Aura of courage that saves us from being Frightened by enemies. There is nothing much except that at this point.
Level 11: You receive a new subclass feature, namely Improved Divine Smite. With this, any melee attack from your side will deal extra radiant damage to the targets.
Level 12 is the farthest level you can achieve as an Oath of Devotion Paladin. Your third feat can be selected here at this point. You can also access every spell from the spellbook and use them according to your needs.
